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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics

Why Matt Hancock is (almost) to be pitied

Isabel Oakeshott sitting in a chair in a TV studio
Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who leaked Matt Hancock's WhatsApp messages. Photograph: David Mirzoeff/PA

Much as I detest Tories on principle, I think Isabel Oakeshott’s behaviour has violated every notion of journalistic integrity, and in this instance Matt Hancock is almost to be pitied (Ministers rally behind Covid inquiry after Hancock WhatsApp revelations, 1 March). Then I remembered that Oakeshott is a Tory too, so my principle appears to hold good.
Philip Clayton
London

• The letter from Jane Harding (1 March), wondering where Mark Spencer, the minister for food, might do his shopping, reminded me of a debating society motion when I attended Leeds University in the 1950s. This read: “This house has got more from Marks & Spencer than it has from either Marx or Spenser.” As I recall, the motion was carried.
Tony Ingham
Goosnargh, Lancashire

• Adrian Chiles, who writes about young people using subtitles when watching TV (My kids often baffle me. But at least we agree on subtitles, 2 March), should listen to the wonderful Michael Rosen interviewing a professional subtitler, Karli Witkowska, on a recent episode of BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth – a programme that, together with More or Less, repays my licence fee. Easily found on BBC Sounds.
Margaret Squires
St Andrews, Fife

• The Inuit people of northern Canada say: “If you whistle, they will dance for you” (Northern lights dazzle across Scotland, Ireland and south through England, 27 February).
Elaine Steane
Oxford

• This is the perfect opportunity for a classical composer to mark Charles’s coronation with a Suite Caroline (Pass notes: The coronation concert, 1 March).
Bev Maydon
Enfield, London

Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our Letters section.

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